DIOCESE OF MANCHESTER MEMORANDUM

Transcription

1 To: Pastors, Parish Administrators, Parish Business Managers/Bookkeepers From: Guy Chapdelaine and David Gabert Date: March 27, 2014 RE: FAQ Sheet #1 Parish Accounting Systems As you are aware, the diocesan Finance Office has been working collaboratively with all parishes on implementing sound internal financial controls as enumerated in the Parish Finance Manual, Version 3.0. A key contributor to a strong control environment is a strong system of financial reporting. To that end, Bishop Libasci has asked the Finance Office to periodically issue information FAQ sheets, designed to answer questions on the future implementation of a standardized web-based hosted accounting system for all parishes in the Diocese of Manchester. FAQ Sheet #1, March 27, 2014: 1. What are the benefits of implementing common web-based hosted accounting system (ParishSOFT ConnectNow) for all parishes in the Diocese of Manchester? The implementation of ConnectNow accounting will provide for: the ability to establish standardized financial reporting formats and chart of accounts; improved collaboration and support to the clergy, finance councils and parish staff; easy installation, automatic updates and version upgrades for all parishes at the same time; individual parish data files with individual parish financial reports; safe automatic data back-ups at a non-parish site; consistent on-going training; to account for cemeteries, day care centers, etc separately and/or in consolidated format; Diocesan support in real-time online; cost efficiencies for twinned and/or merged parishes; a common financial reporting protocol that is familiar to accountants and parish finance council members; increased transparency; improved internal accounting controls; a further safeguarding of assets; the protection of all those that administer the finances of a parish, and; the increased ability to be good stewards of the resources with which we ve been blessed. 2. Who was on the Taskforce to select a system and how were they selected? The Taskforce, appointed by the Bishop, was made up of three pastors and four business managers. The following criteria were considered when selecting Taskforce members: parish size, geographic location, and the type of accounting software in use at their parish. In addition, business managers were selected based on the accounting experience and technical abilities. The Taskforce members were made up of the following members: Rev. Michael Gendron, Pastor of St. Peter Parish in Auburn - (QuickBooks) Rev. Maurice Larochelle, Pastor of Ste. Marie Parish in Manchester (LOGOS) Rev. Michael Taylor, Pastor of St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish in Somersworth - (Peachtree) Bernadette Eaton, Business Manager, St. Andre Bessette Parish, Laconia (Peachtree) Kate Gordon, Business Manager, Corpus Christi Parish in Portsmouth (LOGOS) Nancy King, Business Manager, Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Merrimack (QuickBooks) Jean Lepore, Business Manager, Immaculate Conception Parish in Nashua (LOGOS) David Gabert, Director of Parish and School Financial Services Diocesan Finance Office

2 3. What was the process used by the Taskforce to select ParishSOFT - ConnectNow? The Taskforce met six times with three of the meetings being dedicated to vendor interviews. The Taskforce first identified the issues (problems) with the current parish financial accounting systems and the benefits associated with using one standardized web-based hosted accounting system. Using this information, the Taskforce listed all of the specific requirements for a standardized web-based hosted accounting system, developed a request for proposal (RFP) document to be sent to three vendors, and created an evaluation form designed to collect the quantitative and qualitative results from the vendors presentations. Three vendors presented in writing and in person to the Taskforce including: Parish Data Systems, CathoNet (QuickBooks), and ParishSOFT - ConnectNow. After a thorough evaluation process of all three vendors, the Taskforce unanimously recommended that ParishSOFT - ConnectNow (hereafter referred to as ConnectNow) be selected as the web-based accounting system to be used by all parishes in the Diocese of Manchester New Hampshire. 4. Why was ConnectNow selected? The Taskforce used a quantitative and qualitative system to evaluate all three vendors. The evaluation criteria included general objectives and system functional objectives. The following general objectives were evaluated including: flexible chart of account structure for customized chart of accounts; flexibility in reporting layouts; ease of use for bookkeepers with different skill levels; ability for diocese to have access to accounting entries in order to provide assistance; provides safe, efficient, reliable, backups and automatic updates; provides excellent data security measures that includes firewalls and disaster plans; provides password access to accounting system and allows for controls when changing passwords; provides view only access; demonstrated company longevity and future longevity; ability to regionalize accounting systems without penalty (i.e. fees to get out of contracts); provides audit trails and period closes (password only ability to change prior periods); ability to provide the parish with separate and consolidated reporting for multiple companies (i.e. nursery schools, cemeteries, etc ); offers good initial training and on-going training; allows for ease of exporting of data to excel; is affordable and reasonably priced; provides a Church Management solution (although not an essential qualification), and; provides good support service - initial and ongoing (service wait time is minimal). In addition to the general objectives, the following functional objectives were evaluated: integrated software solution designed for church use, and; provisions for a comprehensive general ledger function, budgeting, financial reporting, accounts payable, payroll, and to a lesser extent, accounts receivable functionality within the general package. The qualitative analysis determined that ConnectNow did the best job meeting the general and functional objectives. Quantitatively, ConnectNow demonstrated that they fulfilled 96.2% of all objectives (requirements) listed by the Taskforce. In addition, ConnectNow demonstrated an understanding of our parish environment, coupled with an implementation and support capability that stood out as outstanding among the vendors. Finally, the cost of ConnectNow and the ongoing customer support services was far and away superior to alternatives examined. The Taskforce recommendation to use ConnectNow was a unanimous decision made by all members.

3 5. Who is ConnectNow? ParishSOFT ConnectNow is out of Ann Arbor Michigan and serves over 80 arch/dioceses in United States, including 4,600 Catholic parishes, and 14,000 churches (when including LOGOS users). ConnectNow is the web-based platform and it serves over 26 arch/dioceses in the United States. 6. Why can t we just continue to use our own desktop accounting software package and not go to a hosted webbased program? The primary reason to move to a hosted web-based program is to standardize parish financial reporting and provide consistent internal controls. There are three different accounting software packages (LOGOS, Peachtree, QuickBooks) being used and oftentimes there are different versions of the same package in use. This lack of standardization has made it nearly impossible to provide consistent support and maintain a standardized reporting format. Desktop account systems longevity is in question moving many entities to some variation of a web-based system. Hosting is necessary in order to ensure: financial reporting accuracy, a consistently used chart of accounts, the consistent use of financial controls, proper diocesan support, consistent standardized reporting, necessary updates and upgrades are approved and initiated, and to ensure that financial data is properly safeguarded. Finally, on January 1, 2015, Microsoft will end its extended support of the Visual FoxPro platform on which LOGOS is developed. 7. What is the timetable for the implementation of ConnectNow? We our still in the process of developing an implementation timetable for all parishes in the Diocese of Manchester. In general terms, our goal is to have every parish using ConnectNow by July 1, Given the fact that support for LOGOS users will be in question after January 1, 2015, we would hope to have all 32 LOGOS parishes using the ConnectNow system (general ledger and payables) by November 1, 2014 and LOGOS parishes requiring the use of Payroll by January 1, 2015 (should ConnectNow payroll be necessary - we are still in the process of examining the implications of the Affordable Care Act which may require that all parishes use a common third party payroll service and therefore a decision to use the payroll component of the ConnectNow system is being deferred). The reason for the November 1, 2014 date for LOGOS users is in attempt to avoid a major accounting transition occurring during Thanksgiving and Advent. Again, the plan is still in motion and is not definite as of yet. After we meet again with the ConnectNow staff and explore all options, we will have a better understanding of what will work the best for all parishes. 8. How much will ConnectNow cost? The cost for the project planning, implementation, issues resolution, account mapping, chart of account development training, and travel, is estimated to be $60,000. This cost will be borne by the Diocese. The on-going cost for hosting will be also borne by the Diocese. The on-going cost of the general ledger, payables, and payroll for all 90 parishes which includes licensing, subscription, maintenance, support is estimated to be $55,000 a year and will not be due until July 1, This cost will be allocated to the parishes based on the number of households (homes) listed in the annual spiritual report (see #9 for more details). There may be additional costs borne by a parish as mentioned in #10 below.

4 9. How much will ConnectNow general ledger, payables, payroll, licensing, subscription, maintenance, and support cost my individual parish? As mentioned in #8 above, the total estimated cost for 90 parishes is $55,000 annually which includes the cost of the general ledger, payables, payroll, licensing, subscription, maintenance, and support. Your parish will be billed in July, 2015 directly by ConnectNow. Payroll is estimated in the above price but will be less for those parishes that decide not to purchase that portion of the software package. At this time, the individual parish will determine if they want to purchase the payroll system through ConnectNow. We are still in the process of examining the implications of the Affordable Care Act which may require that all parishes use a common third party payroll service and therefore a decision to use the payroll component of the ConnectNow system is being deferred. The annual cost for a parish will be based on the number of homes as listed in the spiritual report submitted by your parish. The reason for this allocation is to provide a lower annual cost for a small parish and typically reflects the amount of usage. The following is an estimate of the annual cost depending on the parish number of homes: Estimated Annual Cost Per Parish - Beginning July 1, 2015 Homes (Range) Ledger & Payables Payroll Total Both Under 200 Homes $ 185 $ 75 $ Homes $ 294 $ 113 $ Homes $ 353 $ 151 $ Homes $ 420 $ 151 $ Homes $ 458 $ 151 $ Homes $ 496 $ 189 $ Homes $ 571 $ 227 $ Homes $ 647 $ 265 $ Are there any other costs to my parish? In some cases, parishes may need to upgrade hardware and internet connections in order to optimize their use of ConnectNow. We will be sending a technology survey out to each parish in the near future. That survey will contain the technological requirements to operate the ConnectNow System. We will keep in mind that parishes experiencing financial difficulties may require assistance in this area. We will review this on a case by case basis. Finally, there may be some overlap with your existing support/license fees for you current accounting system. Again, we hope to provide more specifics once a full implementation strategy has been adopted. 11. Will training be provided? Yes, the Diocese will absorb the training cost and arrange locations for hands-on training by knowledgeable ConnectNow representatives. We have yet to determine a schedule of training for all users.

5 12. Has any thought been given to standardizing a parish offertory/census program (church management system)? At this time we have no plans to mandate a parish offertory/census program. Many of our parishes do not use an offertory/census program. In addition, standardizing a church management system reaches beyond simple general ledger interfacing and would increase the end-user cost significantly. 13. If our parish uses something other than LOGOS or ParishSOFT for its offertory/census program can we continue to use our current vendor? The decision to use an offertory/census program and/or what type of program to use will remain with the parish. However, there are may be some advantages to using an integrated offertory system with the General Ledger software in ConnectNow. ParishSOFT does offer an integrated system that combines family, member, offering, sacramental, ministries, religious education programs, online giving and other information in a single web-based system. This is called the ConnectNow Family Suite. Each parish should perform a cost/benefit analysis to determine if the benefits a parish might realize are sufficient to justify the additional expenditure. See below for contact information if your parish would like to explore these options in the ConnectNow platform. 14. My parish uses the LOGOS parish offertory/census program (church management system). Will the LOGOS parish offertory/census program be supported by LOGOS after January 1, 2015? As mentioned above, Microsoft will end its extended support of the Visual FoxPro platform on which LOGOS accounting and parish offertory/census programs are developed. As you may know, ParishSOFT has recently merged with LOGOS and does offer a ConnectNow web-based parish offertory/census program that provides a fully supported upgrade from the current LOGOS software. For more information on the ConnectNow Family Suite software described above, your parish can contact a representative at ParishSOFT that will answer all of your questions regarding your options with all offertory/census software and support going forward: Patricia Webber, ParishSOFT Account Manager Phone: x116 PWebber@parishsoft.com 15. My parish is the host of a Catholic School. Will the Catholic Schools in the diocese be migrating to the ConnectNow Accounting System? At this time, only parishes, parish missions, parish operated cemeteries, and parish pre-school programs will be required to migrate to the ConnectNow Accounting System. Future FAQ Sheets: As the planning process unfolds, we will continue to provide FAQ sheets to answer questions on timetables for implementation and training, chart of account development, financial reporting information, payroll transition, what to do with existing accounting software, and other questions that are sure to arise. We will also host orientations to introduce the ConnectNow product and provide more specific information to you and your staff. We appreciate your patience as we continue on with this process.